Strength Training

This is no silly body building workout where you have to go do a lengthy four to five day split that doesn't really get you STRONG. Strong Lifts 5x5 is an old school approach, similar to what Arnold, Lou the Hulk, and Franco Coloumbo did for many years; intense powerlifting. The proof is that you need a strong base before even touching bodybuilding, which primarily deals with the overall proportion/structure of the body. I love the website because it defuncts many myths about supplements and it's bullshit marketers and especially those popular muscle building magazines that say you can get "ripped" in 12 weeks. Sorry, can't get "ripped" unless you have adequate muscle mass in the first place.

Since the summer, I've switched from a silly body buildiing routine that just left me rather sore and pumped looking to this simple three day split of Squats, Deadlifts, and Benching three times per week with assistance exercises like sit ups, pull ups, dips. Believe me. You will get strong.

Another strength training plan that I began with. It helps. I like the fact that the author says that this plan isn't for "the ab obsessed" because he points out that you need muslce mass in the first place to have a "visible" six pack...

And it's workouts concentrate on heavy compound lifts such as squats, deadlifts, benching, etc. Shit that gets you strong like an ox, not skinny and sore.

Forgot to add. If you want to get BIG, you need to EAT! Consume the adequate amount of calories for maximum muscle growth with fresh lean meats, whole grains, tons of veggies, and fruit. Absoluately no processed/purified foods containing corn syrup, sweets, chips, etc, etc.

I know food is really expensive these days and besides, eating all the time is really hard so PROTEIN SHAKES provide the extra calories and to maximize muscle growth. I know I am EXTREMELY biased and sceptical when it comes to protein powders, for instance, I prefer to stay away from those with artifical sweetners (as to why, that is another seperate issue...). For your powder, I reccomend buying in bulk to save money. And stick to protein isolates and not protein concentrates which contain many impurities such as fats that make it harder to digest. The bioavailability of isolates compared to concentrates is a lot higher too, so read up and educate yourself. Good reliable companies are those that dont spend millions on marketing their product in muscle magazines; the bigger the brand, typically the cheaper the product because in the end, they don't have enough money to spend on quality ingrediants. So, given that, I'd stick to brand names such as ISOPURE and BIOPLEX and especially www.trueprotein.com where you can create your own type protein you desire, that is an especially good thing.

That's about it. Lift like there's no tomorrow, educate yourself, and EAT!

If over the course of months, you work your core into an iron ball with a variety of body weight/gravity exercises, you're prepped for dead weight training. Providing yourself an appropriate diet is also extremely important as already stated.

Diet. Totally the nuts and bolts of this stuff. There have been countless times that i've trained and wonder why am I so tired and/or doing horrbile. Usually because I've eaten poorly earlier that day or even the day prior.

But it's hard to eat that much so start slowly (given that you want to get big). You're appetite is like starting a campfire from scratch, very hard to do. But once you get it going, you keep feeding it, feeding it, and it just gets bigger, and bigger. I'm so hungry in the morning I could eat my cell phone.

Anyway, I'd like to hear what other people think of Strong Lifts 5x5. So far testimony by facebook users prove that this basic strength training workout definitely works, and it's not really original, pretty much a technique that's been around since Arnold's adolecense in the 60s, probably even before

I was doing 5x5 bar curls with 50 lb. then graduated to 10x10, then used one arms with 75 so I could eventually handle 100 on the bar. I ended up doing either 5x5 or 10x10 depending on energy and available time on weight days until I had serious problems related to improper diet for this activity. Word to the wise.

Thanks for the info, in abyssia. Up until now I have been going to a gym fairly regularly, with the goal being overall fitness. I've lost a lot of weight and gained a bit of muscle, but the sites you provided are intriguing. I bookmarked them and plan to try out the program once I'm over this damned cold and cough.

http://www.chaosandpain.com/ this is one of the best lifting sites on the internet, I struggled for years from bad advice and this guy set me straight

This guy seems like he thinks he's really cool and really funny, but is really not (one might say he "fails" if one is a dipshit). He says he watches porn and he feels the need to include fuck in every article and every other paragraph and make extreme manly jokes about thinking its fun to watch women cry and how soccer is for little kids. I might as well go read The Best Page in The Universe because at least it doesn't have the pretense of being a helpful guide for strength training. Here are some of his insightful tips taken from his "10 commandments":

"Stop worrying about your form, already. Brute strength will get you pretty fucking far. The more weight you lift, the more strength you'll gain, and the bigger you'll get."

"For the love of all that's unholy, eat as much protein as you can. Fuck Joe Weider and his high carb nonsense - if you eat like a caveman, you'll look like one. Feel free to post all of the links you want about how Cro-Magnons and Neanderthals apparently ate grains - they ate MINUTE amounts of grains at best"

Great. I'm glad a couple of you like Strong LIfts and the Muscle and Strength websites. Read them both and you can pretty much incorporate both of them into your 3-day work out split routine. Remember, targeting all your muscle groups is key here so that there won't be any muscle imbalance (ever seen a skinny-legged gym rat? they've got big upper bodies and teeny little legs!).

Also, I cannot stress how important it is to educate your self on proper form and diet. So, read up and get STRONG!

Good luck as squats and deadlifts will DEVOUR your energy stores like no other. That is why they are usually always listed as the first exercises to do. And...it is also why you only need to go to the gym three days per week..so you can have ample time for your muscles to recover. Arnold Shwarzenegger is a popular advocate of this. He states you need to have power and strength before even attempting bodybuilding...hence you should do heavy compounds like squats, deadlifts, benching, military presses, power cleans, etc.

So, If you need visual aids, go onto YOUTUBE and you'll find Strong Lifts users who upload their videos. Some do it so others can critique their form (most common with the newbies) and others do it to show off their power. These are handy.

I have been doing strength training for about a month now, using the Starting Strength program, which utilizes only compound lifts like bench press, power cleans, over hand press, deadlifts, squats, etc.

I'm struggling quite a bit with my squats and power cleans trying to get the form right. The real difficulty I'm having is that the power racks at my gym are constantly used, so I need to power clean to do squats and OHP, which can get tiring and doesn't allow me to really reach my max squat. I have really come to enjoy the deadlift and benchpress though as I am seeing progression everytime I work out! I have already added 30-40lbs of weight on the bar within a month for these lifts.

One important thing to note when using protein powders is that many contain very high doses of heavy metals.